Five players have qualified for The Masters by being among the world’s top 50 the week before the first major of the year. South African Louis Oosthuizen did it dramatically by capturing the Andalucian Open yesterday — he had to win it — to join compatriot Charl Schwartzel, Spaniard Alvaro Quiros, Korean KJ Choi and Thai Thongchai Jaidee.
Australian Adam Scott and Dane Anders Hansen both slipped out of the top 50 after the conclusion of today’s Arnold Palmer Invitational but both will still be making the trip to Augusta as they were in the top 50 at the end of 2009.
That leaves the field for The Masters at 99 and that could become 100 if someone who has not qualified wins the Houston Open next week.
The number may also go down as two-time champion Jose Maria Olazabal is not expected to take up his invitation as he is suffering from rheumatism.
Even still it will be the largest field at Augusta since 1966, when 103 players took part. That was one of only three times since the event began in 1934 that over 100 players competed.
Official World Ranking:1 Tiger Woods (USA) 11.49pts, 2 Steve Stricker (USA) 7.80, 3 Phil Mickelson (USA) 7.08, 4 Lee Westwood (Eng) 6.85, 5 Jim Furyk (USA) 6.31, 6 Paul Casey (Eng) 6.29, 7 Ernie Els (Rsa) 6.11, 8 Ian Poulter (Eng) 6.05, 9 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 5.50, 10 Padraig Harrington(Irl) 4.94.
11 Rory McIlroy(NIrl) 4.75, 12 Camilo Villegas (Col) 4.59, 13 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 4.50, 14 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 4.42, 15 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 4.32, 16 Robert Allenby (Aus) 4.22, 17 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 3.97, 18 Kenny Perry (USA) 3.94, 19 Sean O'Hair (USA) 3.84, 20 Luke Donald (Eng) 3.83
21 Hunter Mahan (USA) 3.78, 22 Stewart Cink (USA) 3.69, 23 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 3.62, 24 Lucas Glover (USA) 3.48, 25 Ross Fisher (Eng) 3.45, 26 Anthony Kim (USA) 3.44, 27 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 3.40, 28 Zach Johnson (USA) 3.31, 29 Y.E. Yang (Kor) 3.28, 30 Dustin Johnson (USA) 3.24
31 Angel Cabrera (Arg) 3.13, 32 Nick Watney (USA) 3.10, 33 Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 2.98, 34 Matt Kuchar (USA) 2.93, 35 Vijay Singh (Fij) 2.93, 36 Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 2.89, 37 Tim Clark (Rsa) 2.67, 38 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 2.64, 39 Oliver Wilson (Eng) 2.63
40 Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 2.59, 41 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 2.54, 42 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 2.54, 43 Michael Sim (Aus) 2.53, 44 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 2.50, 45 K J Choi (Kor) 2.48, 46 Mike Weir (Can) 2.47, 47 Graeme McDowell(NIrl) 2.45, 48 Soren Hansen (Den) 2.45, 49 Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 2.44, 50 Kevin Na (USA) 2.40
51 Adam Scott (Aus) 2.39, 52 Anders Hansen (Den) 2.32, 53 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 2.28, 54 Brian Gay (USA) 2.22, 55 Ben Crane 2.20, 56 Simon Dyson (Eng) 2.17, 57 Stephen Ames (Can) 2.16, 58 JB Holmes (USA) 2.15, 59 Ryan Moore (USA) 2.14, 60 Peter Hanson (Swe) 2.13
61 David Toms (USA) 2.11, 62 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 2.09, 63 Justin Rose (Eng) 2.06, 64 Scott Verplank (USA) 1.98, 65 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 1.95, 66 Justin Leonard (USA) 1.94, 67 Ross McGowan (Eng) 1.92, 68 Alexander Noren (Swe) 1.91, 69 Stephen Marino (USA) 1.90, 70 Bubba Watson (USA) 1.87
71 Chad Campbell (USA) 1.86, 72 Jason Dufner (USA) 1.85, 73 Ben Curtis (USA) 1.85, 74 John Senden (Aus) 1.80, 75 Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 1.79, 76 Chris Wood (Eng) 1.79, 77 Brandt Snedeker (USA) 1.78, 78 Rickie Fowler (USA) 1.77, 79 Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 1.75, 80 Marc Leishman (Aus) 1.73
81 Heath Slocum (USA) 1.67, 82 Davis Love III (USA) 1.65, 83 Jerry Kelly (USA) 1.64, 84 Rhys Davies (Wal) 1.63, 85 Derek Lamely (USA) 1.61, 86 Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 1.59, 87 Bill Haas (USA) 1.59, 88 Mathew Goggin (Aus) 1.59, 89 Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 1.57, 90 Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 1.56
91 Charles Howell III (USA) 1.55, 92 Koumei Oda (Jpn) 1.55, 93 John Rollins (USA) 1.54, 94 Shane Lowry (Irl)1.53, 95 Kenichi Kuboya (Jpn) 1.53, 96 Yasuharu Imano (Jpn) 1.53, 97 Martin Laird (Sco) 1.52, 98 Paul Goydos (USA) 1.51, 99 Bryce Molder (USA) 1.50, 100 James Kingston (Rsa) 1.49.